Stock market remains bullish with high turnover

• Published date: 09 August 2022
• Publication title: Daily Financial Times

The Colombo stock market remained bullish yesterday with indices up and higher turnover.

The active SandP SL20 Index gained by 2.4% and the benchmark ASPI by 1%. Turnover was Rs. 3.3 billion involving 85.6 million shares.

Asia Securities said following a brief dip after market-open, the indices continued to move upwards throughout the session with sharp gains recorded in LIOC (+16.2%), LOLC (+15.1%) and LLUB (+16.6%). Turnover remained above Rs. 3 billion for the third consecutive day as activity levels among retail and HNI investors remained strong.

LIOC accounted for much of the activity (45.6% of overall turnover) with EXPO recording a significantly lower contribution at 9.6%. JKH and MELS continued to witness strong volumes, as the broad-based pickup in turnover across sectors continued. The ASPI opened higher at 8,368, briefly dipping to 8,317 before gaining momentum with a steady upward trajectory to reach a peak of 8,479. The index closed below this peak level at 8,423. LOLC was the highest contributor to the ASPI (+52 points), followed by LIOC (+24 points) and LLUB (+15 points). Market breadth was positive with 104 counters gaining and 76 declining.

Asia also said foreigners recorded a net outflow of Rs. 62.4 million while their participation declined to 3.7% of turnover (previous day 4.9%). Net foreign...